Munster minds turn quickly to upcoming Gloucester test

Leinster and Munster returned to base on Saturday evening in markedly contrasting fashions to prepare for their second group matches at home next Saturday. Buoyed by becoming only the second visiting team to lower the Ospreys' colours in the latter's last 23 Heineken Cup games at the Liberty Stadium, Leinster will nonetheless be mindful of Munster's defeat in Edinburgh in ensuring they do not become too buoyant.

Mike Ross is a significant doubt for the visit of Castres due to the hamstring injury he sustained toward the end of the first quarter in Swansea.

By contrast, Simon Zebo left Murrayfield on crutches due to an ankle injury which is due to be X-rayed today.

Paddy Butler, who was replaced after 55 minutes, has been ruled out of action for at least eight weeks after undergoing surgery in Limerick yesterday on a fractured right thumb although captain Peter O'Mahony is expected to return for the visit of Gloucester.

An x-ray on James Coughlan’s injured left forearm showed no break, but he will be monitored as the week progresses.

The position regarding Brian O'Driscoll's possible return from a calf injury is still unclear, although Leinster should have Zane Kirchener in the mix. Were Ross ruled out, the prospect of the 23-year-old tight-head Marty Moore starting only his third game for Leinster is not as worrying as it might have been in light of the way he scrummaged after his 19th minute introduction against the Lions-infused Ospreys' pack.

Feel vindicated
Then again, Leinster's only other registered tight head in their European squad is the 21-year-old Tadhg Furlong.

After such a thoroughly well-prepared, well executed performance, Matt O'Connor could also feel vindicated with his selection, particularly of the excellent Jimmy Gopperth at outhalf ahead of Ian Madigan, following his first Heineken Cup outing with the three-time champions and his first win at the Liberty following two defeats and a draw there with Leicester.

“It’s about getting the result for the group and we sat down on Monday and thought that Jimmy might manage it better than Mads at this point. Now, that might change next week but he has played very well. I have said it all along: he is a good pro. He is in a good side and is a very good player.”

O’Connor was particularly pleased with “the effort” his players showed a week after their defeat to Munster.

“There are things that we are trying to put together on the training paddock. We have a pretty tight window with new players and new coaches and they are working very hard. We had some robust conversations earlier in the week post-Munster. They were the first to stick their hands up and say that wasn’t good enough . . . and they fixed it.”

As O'Connor had hoped, all Leinster's Lions rose to the occasion to fill the vacuum left by the departure or absence of key men. "They are quality footballers. They are world-class guys and the lack of rugby that they have played over the last period takes a toll on them when you get into an intensity like we had last week at Munster. But with that under their belt they were a bit more battle-hardened, a bit nastier, and it showed."

Only unbeaten
With Castres beating Northampton 19-13, Leinster host the French champions at the RDS next Saturday for the right to be the only unbeaten team in the group after the opening salvos. By contrast, Northampton host the Ospreys in something of a sink-or-swim encounter in this shark-filled pool, given no side has ever progressed to the knock-out stages after losing their opening two matches.

That statistic is now very pertinent for Munster against a Gloucester side boosted by their dramatic win at home to a James Hook-inspired Perpignan and with some old scores to settle – namely 33-6 and 35-17 on their previous treks to Limerick in 2002-03 and 2003-04.

An Anglo-Irish, Saturday tea-time clash at Thomond Park is one of the cup’s time-honoured occasions, and while miracles aren’t necessary yet, Munster will need to reinvoke some of that traditional backs-to-the-wall spirit.

Following on from their run to last season's semi-final, perhaps this relatively callow Munster side felt a little too good about themselves after beating Leinster a week ago before visiting a side propping up the Rabo Pro12 table.

Physical way
Rob Penney conceded his side didn't look mentally at it.

“You can’t apply yourself in a physical way and expect to have a performance of a high class if the application and commitment to the cause isn’t there. We’ve been embarrassed today by the number of errors and I think it was on the back of the general malaise and flatness in the group for some reason. We may have got a bit ahead of ourselves.”

The way JJ Hanrahan coughed up possession for Tim Visser’s decisive late try with a high-risk chip revived memories of Conor Murray being caught in his own 22 late on away to Racing Metro a year ago.

“We got ourselves into a position where we should have been able to nail it off and we couldn’t,” reflected Penney. “It’s really on the back of they applied a bit of pressure, we made a clumsy decision [JJ Hanrahan’s chip] and they scored a try and all of a sudden it’s tails up and fight’s on.”

Munster will need to have their tails up this week.